Slovenia

Next stop: Slovenia – Maribor to be more precise, Dejan’s birthplace this time (this is family part of the trip after all!). We took a “migrating workers” bus which runs from Mostar via Sarajevo (we are sparing you names of all trees in Bosnia and Herzegovina we stopped by to pick up passengers!!!) to Vienna. Needless to say that we were the only tourists on the Sunday bus returning all the other passengers to their working place in Austria. The bus was still good news for us (little did we know…) as the only alternative is a train ride which takes... well… for ever (includes about 22 change-overs and border controls). That’s how it looked at the time of boarding the bus anyway.

When we bought the ticket we were told that bus does not officially stop in Maribor, but not to worry – a civilised request (ie few Euros) and the driver will stop at a gas station if not a convenient bus station. Worst case scenario – he will stop at the border (about 15 km from Maribor). No problem with that – we actually did this before. So, it didn’t really concern us that the ticket listed said Graz (in Austria) instead of Maribor (in Slovenia) as our destination. Minor details… In true Mediterranean mentality we believed this be no problem as the road goes through Maribor anyway. So, after boarding the bus we had a nice little conversation with the driver (having prepared few notes in our pockets to seal the deal) and learned following:

• Bus has no agreement / licence to stop in Slovenia (or Croatia for that matter!)
• The fine is 700 Eur (in Slovenia anyway, not sure about Croatia)

Ergo, driver flatly refused to stop anywhere in Slovenia. With the sigh we then asked to stop at the border with Austria, 15 km is still not a disaster… And got fobbed off again (now, this time our jaws dropped!). First possible stop is the petrol station in Austria (almost in Graz!). No bargaining was possible, so we gave in (like we actually had a choice…). Balcans have changed!

To think that as little as 20 odd years ago you would be put in prison saying anything against Yugoslavia borders and now best possible connection between Mostar and Maribor is a bus to Austria! Can think of few people turning in their graves as we write…

So, welcome back to Slovenia… We drove straight through the country without stopping (to cover wide expanses of Slovenia it did take almost an hour!) – in visible distance of friends and family (again, not too hard…). And we got picked up on the petrol station and discovered that the car had no Austrian motorway road tax (Vignette) and we had to take the back roads back to Slovenia… and got lost in the process. Well we asked for traveling sabbatical and we got one! Not really planning to spend time in Austrian villages thou…

Maribor is the second biggest town in Slovenia (can’t really call it a city…). However, if you are into vines and vineyards definitely a place to visit. This time local attraction is in line – the oldest wine tree in the world. Find a local guide thou – everything we read about the place in the known guides was rubbish!

We can happily report that the weather in Slovenia has been fantastic (because we took rain clothes this time!) and we managed to burn considerable amount of meat on the bbq – as one does. Was really nice to see all the friends and family again. As always,  a “project plan” was required to meet all the requirements in agreed timelines (Ha! And you thought we lost it already!).

Actually by accident (not a plan really) we were in Maribor in time to catch start of the local Lent festival. A lot of different events accompanied by stalls selling food and drinks (as per usual). It is a big thing in Maribor – people actually plan their holidays not to miss it. We were delighted to stroll around after almost 10 years of absence. And noticed few things:

• Festival has definitely grown in number of performances and stages
• Big names not there anymore (recession again???)
• People our age not to be found!!! Never before have we noticed this (nothing to do with the fact we were 10 years younger last time we were here….). Real shock to the system! We miss Dublin (read pubs and people not the weather) already…

We ever fitted some DIY work as well – our apartment has been demolished by previous tenant and had to be fully refurbished. Lifelong dream of buying a kitchen in Ikea has been finally fulfilled!

While on the subject of life long dreams, Nives finally got her ears pierced! We are earrings buying family now…

All to soon it was time to take (another bus) to Venice to flight to Cyprus – Ryanair class. Bus comfort will have to be forgotten quickly.

Sunshine here we come!!!

Some pictures here.